Why the Church Resists What the World Already Embraces

Here's an irony that should shock us into awareness:

Everywhere you look in Western culture, you're seeing the unity of men and women manifesting. Women CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies. Female senators and congresswomen shaping legislation. Women and men working side by side in research labs, classrooms, hospitals, law firms, tech companies.

In business. In politics. In education. In medicine. In entertainment. In sports. In virtually every sphere of society, we're witnessing women and men collaborating, leading together, contributing together as equals.

Everywhere, that is, except one place.

The church.

The very assembly that should be leading the world in demonstrating God's design for relationships has become the most stubbornly, obstinately resistant to the unity that the rest of culture is already embracing.

We're the last holdout. The final bastion. The institution still clinging to hierarchies that the world is rapidly leaving behind.

And there's a reason for that.

The Ironic Truth

The ecclesia—the assembly of King Jesus, the governmental body meant to unleash Kingdom reality on earth—has become the primary obstacle to the very transformation it was designed to release.

Think about that. The one institution specifically commissioned by Jesus to demonstrate His Kingdom, to model His ways, to show the world what redeemed relationships look like—that institution is now the main place where hierarchical control and gender-based limitations persist.

Why?

Because that's where we hold the most power.

The enemy doesn't mind unity of men and women in the business world. Sure, it's a threat. Women leading companies means that half of humanity's gifts and insights are being utilized instead of suppressed. That creates more innovation, more productivity, more flourishing.

But it's still just the world. It's still operating on worldly principles, even if it's moving in a better direction than the church is.

The real danger—the thing the enemy fears most—is when men and women who are in right relationship with the Lord come into right relationship with each other.

When that happens, when we actually operate as the unified ecclesia Jesus envisioned, we become something the enemy cannot withstand.

Why Kingdom Unity Is Different

Unity of men and women in the world is powerful. But Kingdom unity—men and women in right relationship with God AND each other, operating in governmental, priestly, and prophetic authority together—that's something entirely different.

That's unstoppable.

Think about it: The ecclesia operating in its full power means both male and female perspectives bringing revelation from Heaven. Both male and female voices speaking prophetically into situations. Both male and female authority establishing Kingdom reality on earth.

It means the full breadth of the image of God—"male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27, NIV)—functioning together as one unified force.

It means no gifts suppressed, no insights ignored, no perspectives dismissed because of gender.

It means the kind of power Jesus demonstrated when He commissioned both men and women to carry His message, funded His ministry through women's resources (Luke 8:1-3), appeared first to women after His resurrection and commissioned them as apostles to the apostles.

The enemy knows exactly what happens when God's people start operating this way. He's seen it before, in those early church communities where "there is neither... male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28, NIV).

And he will do everything in his power to prevent it from happening again.

The Strategic Target

This is why the attack is fiercest in the church. This is why the resistance is strongest here.

If the enemy can keep God's people divided along gender lines, he's won a massive strategic victory. He's amputated half the body of Christ from its full function. He's muted half the voices that should be speaking prophetically. He's suppressed half the gifts that should be building the Kingdom.

More than that, he's distorted the church's witness to the world.

When the world looks at the church and sees us clinging to male authority and female submission—using Bible verses to justify the very hierarchies Jesus came to overthrow—what message does that send?

It says that following Jesus doesn't actually transform how we relate to each other. It says that God's Kingdom still operates on worldly principles of dominance and control. It says that for all our talk about being new creations, we're actually just the old creation with religious language.

And tragically, it keeps many people—especially women who've experienced the pain of suppressed gifts and dismissed callings—from ever wanting to be part of the church at all.

We've become the last bastion of a system that even the world recognizes as broken.

How We Got Here

This didn't happen overnight. The church's resistance to gender equality has deep historical roots.

As I explored in my book BLIND SPOT, by the time Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century, the church had already begun adopting the hierarchical household codes of Greco-Roman culture.

What started as a revolutionary movement where women prophesied (Acts 2:17), led churches (Romans 16:1-2, 7), taught influential leaders (Acts 18:26), and functioned as apostles gradually gave way to accommodation with surrounding patriarchal cultures.

The world influenced the church rather than the other way around.

And once the church gained institutional power—political influence, economic resources, social status—we had something to protect. Hierarchies feel necessary when you have power to maintain. They feel essential when you have institutions to preserve.

So we developed theologies that justified male authority. We reinterpreted Scripture through cultural lenses that saw male leadership as God's design rather than as concessions to fallen systems. We created entire doctrinal frameworks to support what was really just cultural accommodation.

And now, centuries later, we've convinced ourselves that these hierarchies are biblical, unchangeable, essential to God's order.

Never mind that Jesus explicitly rejected hierarchical leadership (Matthew 20:25-28). Never mind that Paul commanded mutual submission (Ephesians 5:21). Never mind that the trajectory of Scripture consistently moves toward greater equality and mutual honor.

We've dug in. We've made this our hill to die on. And in the process, we've become the very thing Jesus warned against—religious leaders who lay heavy burdens on people while refusing to lift a finger to help them (Matthew 23:4).

The Sad Consequence

Here's what makes this particularly tragic: while the church clings to hierarchical gender roles, the world is discovering on its own what we should have been demonstrating all along.

Secular research shows that companies with more women in leadership make better decisions, have higher employee satisfaction, and are more profitable. Studies reveal that diverse perspectives produce better solutions than homogeneous groups. Research demonstrates that mutual respect and collaboration outperform top-down control.

The world is figuring out through trial and error what Scripture has been saying all along: we're better together. We're stronger when we honor and empower each other. We're more effective when we collaborate rather than dominate.

But instead of leading the way, instead of being the light to the nations we're called to be, the church is busy defending structures that even secular culture recognizes as suboptimal.

We're the last bastion—not of biblical truth, but of cultural accommodation that we've mistaken for biblical truth.

What's Really At Stake

But here's what we need to understand: this isn't ultimately about gender. It's about the Kingdom.

Yes, the unity of men and women matters immensely. The suppression of women's gifts has wounded the church deeply and held back the Kingdom's advance significantly.

But the deeper issue is this: Will the ecclesia of King Jesus actually operate according to Kingdom principles, or will we continue to function according to worldly patterns?

Will we embrace the mutual submission, mutual honor, and mutual empowerment that reflects the very nature of the Trinity? Or will we cling to the dominance-based hierarchies that reflect the fallen world's brokenness?

Will we let God's Kingdom transform us, or will we keep forcing Scripture to support the status quo?

This is what's really at stake. Not just women's ordination or female leadership—though those matter. But whether the church will actually be the ecclesia Jesus promised to build.

An ecclesia where power flows in all directions, not just top-down. Where authority means responsibility to serve, not permission to control. Where leadership equals lifting others up, not rising above them. Where submission is mutual, not one-directional. Where everyone functions fully in their priestly, prophetic, and kingly calling regardless of gender.

That's the ecclesia that becomes unstoppable. That's the assembly the enemy fears. That's the body of Christ operating in its full power.

The Path Forward

So how do we move from being the last bastion of resistance to becoming the vanguard of transformation?

It starts with repentance—genuine, deep repentance for how the church has wounded women, suppressed gifts, tolerated abuse, and distorted God's nature by presenting hierarchy as His design when Jesus demonstrated something radically different.

It continues with humility—the willingness to admit that we might have gotten this wrong, that our interpretations of Scripture might have been filtered through cultural biases, that the Holy Spirit might be leading us toward greater understanding of God's original design.

It requires courage—the courage to challenge long-held doctrines, to question respected teachers, to risk being labeled as unbiblical or liberal or compromised with culture, all for the sake of actually being faithful to what Jesus modeled and commissioned.

And it demands action—not just agreeing in theory that women and men should work together, but actually empowering women to use their gifts fully, elevating women to leadership, amplifying women's voices, and creating space for women to function in their priestly, prophetic, and kingly callings.

The world is already moving in this direction. The question is whether the church will lead or follow. Whether we'll demonstrate Kingdom reality or remain the last institution clinging to Babylon's systems.

The Invitation

God is recruiting an army. Not an army of men only. Not an army where men lead and women follow. But an army of unified image-bearers—male and female together—operating in full Kingdom authority.

This army is meant to be in the vanguard—at the very head of the parade, showing the world what redeemed relationships look like, demonstrating what happens when men and women operate in mutual honor and empowerment.

But we can't be in the vanguard while we're the last bastion. We can't lead the way while we're dragging behind. We can't demonstrate Kingdom reality while we're defending worldly hierarchies.

The invitation is clear: Will you join the march forward? Will you choose to be part of the ecclesia that Jesus is building—not the institution defending the past, but the movement advancing toward God's future?

Will you help break down the last bastion so that the church can finally become what it was always meant to be?

The Kingdom is coming. The ecclesia is assembling. The question isn't whether transformation will happen—it's whether we'll participate in it or resist it.

The world is already embracing what we should have been modeling all along. It's time for the church to stop being the last holdout and start being the first to demonstrate the full power of Kingdom unity.

The invitation stands. The King is calling. The ecclesia is waiting for those who will answer.

Will you be part of the vanguard, or will you remain in the bastion?

The choice is yours.

Blessings,
Susan 😊